Logan Callen, Senior Environmental Analyst, 509.625.6500
Wednesday, May 7, 2025 at 10:34 a.m.
Greenhouse gas emissions are a type of climate pollution that represent the release of heat-trapping gases. This reporting helps provide a foundation for future work towards supporting a more resilient Spokane. It also supports local benefits like improved air quality as well. In compliance with House Bill (HB) 1181, which was passed by the 2023 Washington State Legislature and added climate and resiliency considerations to comprehensive planning, City staff and a team of consultants collected activity data like electricity and natural gas use, and calculated greenhouse gas emissions for the community. For a detailed discussion about the greenhouse gas inventory, watch the April 10, 2025 Climate Resilience and Sustainability Board presentation of these results.
Benefits of Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Based on the most recent data available, in the City of Spokane, 48% of greenhouse gas emissions come from the energy we use to heat and cool our homes and buildings. 41% of the emissions come from transportation and vehicles like cars and delivery trucks, airplanes, trains, and lawnmowers. The remaining 11% come from our solid and liquid wastes, as well as the refrigerants that are inadvertently leaked from cooling systems. Since 2016, emissions have increased 5% due to increased population (+7%) and increased natural gas use (+30%) due to 2022 being much colder than 2016.
People like to interact with data in different ways and at different depths. For that reason, several formats have been developed to report greenhouse gas emissions for the City of Spokane. All these documents can be found on the City’s environmental webpage.
This reporting will provide valuable information to update climate pollution reduction policies in the Comprehensive Plan.
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Have questions for the Climate Planning team? Contact us at climateplanning@spokanecity.org.
Learn more about PlanSpokane 2046 and the ongoing Climate Planning efforts at PlanSpokane.org.
